Of the professors then at Heidelberg, Leuckart, the zoologist, was,
perhaps, the most inspiriting. His lectures were full of original
suggestions and clever hypotheses, which excited and sometimes
amused his listeners. He knew how to take advantage of the
enthusiasm of his brighter pupils, and, at their request, gave them
a separate course of instruction on special groups of animals; not
without some personal sacrifice, for these extra lectures were
given at seven o'clock in the morning, and the students were often
obliged to pull their professor out of bed for the purpose. The
fact that they did so shows at least the friendly relation existing
between teacher and scholars. With Bischoff the botanist also, the
young friends were admitted to the most kindly intercourse. Many a
pleasant botanical excursion they had with him, and they owed to
him a thorough and skillful instruction in the use of the
microscope, handled by him like a master. Tiedemann's lectures were
very learned, and Agassiz always spoke of his old teacher in
comparative anatomy and physiology with affectionate respect and
admiration. He was not, however, an inspiring teacher, and though
an excellent friend to the students, they had no such intimate
personal relations with him as with Leuckart and Bischoff. From
Bronn, the paleontologist, they received an immense amount of
special information, but his instruction was minute in details
rather than suggestive in ideas; and they were glad when their
professor, finding that the course must be shortened for want of
time, displayed to them his magnificent collection of fossils, and
with the help of the specimens, developed his subject in a more
general and practical way.* (* This collection was purchased in
1859 by the Museum of Comparative Zoology in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, and Agassiz had thus the pleasure of teaching his
American pupils from the very collection in which he had himself
made his first important paleontological studies.) Of the medical
professors, Nageli was the more interesting, though the reputation
of Chelius brought him a larger audience. If there was however any
lack of stimulus in the lecture rooms, the young friends made good
the deficiency by their own indefatigable and intelligent study of
nature, seeking to satisfy their craving for knowledge by every
means within their reach.* (* The material for this account of the
student life of the two friends at Heidelberg and of their teachers
was chiefly furnished by Alexander Braun himself at the close of
his own life, after the death of Agassiz. The later sketches of the
Professors at Munich in 1832 were drawn in great part from the same
source.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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